In our September Newsletter I related the story of a postcard in my collection, written by a soldier who was billeted in High Ongar, to his mother during the Great War. I posed the question as to whether he survived the war. Well thanks to Anne Padfield (and Ancestry) we can complete the story.
His name was Arthur Garner (not Gurner as it appeared on the postcard). A Mrs Jane Garner (mother) lived at 34 Cremorne St, Nottingham, which was the address on the postcard - so we have the right person.
The website Ancestry holds many military records and Anne had no difficulty in tracing Arthur’s record, which gives us lots of details about him. He was described as being 5ft 9 and a quarter inches, 9 and a half stone, and prior to enlistment was a machine fitter.
His parents were William and Jane Garner, Arthur being the youngest of nine children.
He enlisted in the Territorials on the 14 Oct 1914 aged 23, in the 1st/7th Battalion Sherwood Foresters, the Notts and Derby Regiment, (regimental number 3057). The regiment were sent to Rouen, France on the 28th June 1915. He was killed in action on the 13th October 1915 in Flanders, and is buried in the British Cemetery, at Vermelles. His headstone bears the inscription
A NOBLE LIFE LAID DOWN EVER IN OUR THOUGHTS FROM ALL AT HOME
The cost of the inscription (paid by the family was 14/-.
His personal effects were eventually sent back to his family and included: a broken wristwatch, 3 notebooks, a souvenir cartridge, 3 photos, a letter, 2 looking glasses 1 broken, postcards and a devotional book.
His mother received his 1914-15 Star in January 1921 and his British War and Victory medals in 1922.
An older brother in the Army Service Corps survived the war.
Vermelles is a village 10 kilometres north-west of Lens.